


Solidarity

by scribblemyname



Series: I Need My Fics Exchange Fics [5]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Aftermath, Coping, Friendship, Gen, Mentions of Canonical Character Deaths, Overtures of Friendship, Spoilers, reaching out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-06
Updated: 2015-02-06
Packaged: 2018-03-10 19:23:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3300779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scribblemyname/pseuds/scribblemyname
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bobbi understood not good. She knew what it was like when one of the people you cared about most turned on you <em>(Sitwell, you better be glad you're dead, or I'd shoot you in the head myself)</em> or ended up dead <em>(not Mack, just please not Mack)</em>. She could empathize with finding your father couldn't be the man you needed him to be, and with knowing someone died trying to save you—and failed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Solidarity

**Author's Note:**

  * For [flipflop_diva](https://archiveofourown.org/users/flipflop_diva/gifts).



> I hope you don't mind I incorporated some material from your later letters.

May was already there in the mess when Bobbi arrived on the hunt for post-mission coffee.

"So how's mini-May?" Bobbi asked.

May dragged her gaze up from the file folder and half-eaten plate of fried rice and just looked at her.

Bobbi shrugged and poured herself a mugful of the…very black coffee. She sniffed it and grimaced but swallowed a stinging mouthful anyway. "Lance is on the premises."

It had been a week. She hadn't had her cry, but this wasn't all over yet. Mack still had 'spells,' and Skye's new 'gift' was hardly the only major consequence of their latest run-in with HYDRA. May and Coulson had been digging into reports while everyone else had been coping with their new physical ailments or grieving the loss of Tripp.

"You know, Skye." Bobbi dropped into the chair across from May, ignoring the unwelcoming glance. "She's just like you. Or she tries to be anyway."

"She has her own problems right now," May said in the tone of cutting off the conversation.

They had been close once upon a time, before Bahrain and before Lance Hunter, when Bobbi was still having a fling with Barton that almost got serious. After Bahrain, it was always like this, shutting her out, _looking_ at her instead of answering questions, but Bobbi needed a friend and Hartley was dead, Lance didn't trust her, and Mack had an alien virus in his bloodstream.

She sipped the coffee, grimaced, and shoved the cup back on the table. She dropped her guard when she answered, "That's why I'm asking."

May looked up from the report and did that looking thing again. She sighed. "Not good. I don't think Coulson realizes she needs him to be Phil right now, not the Director."

Bobbi took that in and nodded. She remembered her own relationship with Fury. He didn't trust people and outsiders took that to mean he didn't _like_ people, but nothing could be further from the truth. Fury had treated her and Natasha and May like the daughters he never had. Skye had found her own mentors in Melinda May and Phil Coulson. But if Coulson wasn't listening to May, he certainly wouldn't listen to Bobbi.

"Any way I can help?" she offered instead.

May just gathered up her papers. "I'm sure you have plenty to do yourself."

Sure she did. Bobbi stared at the undrinkable coffee. This really _wasn't_ the SHIELD she used to know.

* * *

Not good. Bobbi understood not good. She knew what it was like when one of the people you cared about most turned on you _(Sitwell, you better be glad you're dead, or I'd shoot you in the head myself)_ or ended up dead _(not Mack, just please not Mack)_. She could empathize with finding your father couldn't be the man you needed him to be, and with knowing someone died trying to save you—and failed.

She found Skye where and how she expected: training with a cold fury that probably served Skye well to hide the pain, fear, and anger about everything that went down.

Skye was running through basic combat moves, and Bobbi took the opportunity to twirl a staff and ask, "You ever try Eskrima?"

Skye's watchful gaze tracked the motion. Her body language stayed tense. "No."

Bobbi tried again more directly. "Mind if I join you?"

Skye deliberately relaxed her shoulders, then shrugged them. "Sure."

They went through the exercises side by side for a bit, not engaging, just watching each other's moves. Every so often, Bobbi tossed a tip in Skye's direction. She was surprised at how quickly Skye chose to incorporate her suggestions. She was good, quite good. Mini-May indeed.

This was taking too long.

"You know, Melinda and I used to be good friends before Bahrain."

Skye faltered on a block.

"Try not to get startled by sudden conversation," Bobbi advised. "May wouldn't."

"Excuse me?" Skye demanded.

Bobbi lowered her battle staves. "I lost a friend after that because someone thought it was their fault, okay? She's a good agent, the best. But try not to follow her in that. Your team and your friends need you."

Skye huffed. "Yeah, well, maybe I have the right to deal with this my own way."

Bobbi moved away, irritated at the lack of understanding, then turned around and came back. "You're not alone here, Skye. This wasn't your fault. This stuff happens. You think Tripp trying to save you was your fault? Well, I electrocuted my best friend and let him fall to his supposed death."

Skye's gaze flinched, but she stared at her without a flicker of her features. Good training. May had done right by her.

Bobbi shook her head. "You've been betrayed. I get that. You've lost someone that matters to you. I get that. But you do not have to go through this alone."

"Because you're offering to let me cry on your shoulder."

The words were sarcastic, but Bobbi softened a little when she answered. "If you need to."

Skye stared at her for a long moment. Finally, she nodded curtly, but her own eyes were softer, and finally there wasn't so much tension in her body. "Good to know."

They didn't stop and hug or cry, but they went back into their training exercises side by side, not talking, just being.

* * *

When Bobbi got to her own room, she found May waiting for her, arms crossed, expression grim.

"I heard what you said," May said in that even, expressionless tone she'd been using on Bobbi and everyone else for years now.

"So you're a spy now and not just a field agent?" Bobbi stripped out of her gear and pulled on a soft shirt and shorts for bed.

Something flickered across May's face. Her tone softened. "You never lost me."

Bobbi almost laughed. She dropped to the bed. "You offering to let me cry on your shoulder?"

The words had the opposite effect on May. She became harder, more soldier-like. "If you need to."

Bobbi wasn't like these women who shut away their pain and suffering so they could go on. She went over to her friend, held on, and cried.


End file.
